


Dandelion

by uisceB



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Humor, Magical narcotics, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-04
Updated: 2015-11-04
Packaged: 2018-04-29 20:16:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5141132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uisceB/pseuds/uisceB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Emma gets into the magical narcotics and becomes convinced that she and Regina are destined to be true loves. Shameless, ridiculous, almost-crackish SwanQueen fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dandelion

Regina did not care in the slightest that Emma Swan was apparently hovering upside down in mid air over a gully out in the woods, nor did she care that the entire town was in a state of panic because of it. She _didn't._ But she _did_ care that Henry was distressed about it, and so, reluctantly, she made her way out there to confront the blonde, and to see what exactly she thought she was doing.

She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, given that everyone had _told_ her that Emma Swan was hovering upside down in mid air over a gully out in the woods-- but it was still startling to find exactly that: Emma Swan, hovering in mid air, upside down like a bat, legs crossed Indian-style, hair a completely ridiculous mess hanging down around her as she stared down into the rushing river far beneath her.

"Miss Swan!" Regina called to her. "What in the ever loving _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

Emma snapped her head up, eyes going wide and she jolted, looking like she was about to topple right out of the air. But she righted herself quickly enough and spread her arms out wide, waving them excitedly.

"REGINA!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "REGINA, YOU CAN SEE ME?"

"Of _course_ I can see you, Miss Swan, you're not exactly inconspicuous!" Regina called back.

"NO ONE ELSE CAN SEE ME!" Emma insisted, just as loudly as before. "I HAVE BECOME THE WIND."

 _"Everyone_ else can see you, Miss Swan-- every single person who has walked by here this morning has seen you and it's causing a mass panic. That's why I'm here. They all think you've lost your mind. I'm inclined to believe them."

 _"I'M_ INCLINED…TO THINK YOU'RE…LOTS OF DIFFERENT COLORS RIGHT NOW! YOU'RE LIKE A _RAINBOW,_ REGINA, A RAINBOW!"

Regina stared at her. This couldn't possibly be Emma Swan. Certainly the blonde had moments of absurd awkwardness and stupidity, but _this…?_

And then it hit her.

"You went in my vault, didn't you?" she accused.

Emma blinked at her, looking caught.

"You _touched_ something, _didn't you?_ After I _specifically_ told you not to!"

"IT'S NOT _MY_ FAULT YOU WERE LATE SHOWING UP FOR MAGIC LESSONS!" Emma shouted. "I GOT BORED AND YOU HAVE SOOOOO MANY JARS FILLED WITH MYSTERIOUS THINGS! WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO, JUST _IGNORE THEM?"_

 _"Yes,_ that is _exactly_ what you were supposed to do!" Regina cried. "And we absolutely did not have any magic lessons scheduled for today, I canceled those after you accidentally turned yourself into a swan yesterday! You are aware of this, I was _very_ frank with you!"

"WELL _OBVIOUSLY_ , I DON'T REMEMBER THAT CONVERSATION!" Emma bellowed back at her.

Regina brought her hand to her forehead, trying to get control over her temper before she did something she might regret.

"Miss Swan," she said as calmly as she could muster, "what _precisely_ did you get into in my vault? Do you remember?"

"THE GLITTERY THING," Emma informed her confidently, just as loud as ever.

"The glittery thing?" Regina echoed.

"THE JAR WITH ALL THE GLITTER. IT SMELLED AMAZING AND I ATE IT."

"…You ate…?"

"I DIDN'T EAT THE JAR, JUST WHAT WAS _IN_ THE JAR. I DIDN'T HAVE BREAKFAST THIS MORNING AND IT LOOKED LIKE JAM." Her eyes went wide. "IT WASN'T JAM, REGINA."

"Let me see if I have this perfectly straight-- you went into my vault without my permission, and then proceeded to rummage around in the things I told you very clearly not to touch, and then, of all the things you could have done, you _ate_ one of them?"

"THE LABEL ON THE JAR SAID BEETLE NOSE."

"So naturally you put it in your _mouth?_ What in heaven's name is _wrong_ with you, Miss Swan?"

"I DIDN'T KNOW BEETLES EVEN _HAD_ NOSES, I WAS CURIOUS AND EXCITED!"

"My question still stands-- you put it in your _mouth?"_

"NOT _IT-- THEM."_

_"Them?"_

"SO MANY BEETLE NOSES. IN MY MOUTH."

Regina grimaced.

"MY MOUTH TASTES AWFUL TO ME RIGHT NOW," Emma added.

This was a nightmare. Beetle nose-- the entire fucking _jar_ of beetle nose that Emma Swan had apparently saw fit to _ingest--_ was a powerful narcotic in the Enchanted Forest if taken alone. Normally, it would only be used as an additive to a sleeping potion in order to navigate through dreams, but when taken while the user was awake…

"I AM NO LONGER A PRISONER OF THIS MORTAL PLANE!" Emma proclaimed ringingly. "I HAVE ASCENDED. I AM THE WIND!"

Regina sighed. This was going to be a very long day.

*

It took quite some time before Regina was able to convince the heavily drugged Emma Swan to at least join her back on solid ground. The blonde initially refused to leave her upside-down perch in mid air, insisting over and over that, as the wind, she would no longer be chained by gravity.

Fortunately, Regina didn't have long to wait before Emma started to get a headache from having been upside down for so long, and the blonde finally floated back down to earth with a slight crash, and a whimper as she clutched at her skull.

"The ground…" she groaned, "it has claimed me once again…"

Regina rolled her eyes and helped her to her feet. Emma stumbled full into her, drawing their faces very close, and then proceeded to stare at her with something very close to awe written across her features.

"Miss Swan if you do not take a step back from me this instant I will rip your heart out," Regina warned.

Emma blinked at her, looking surprised, but backed up obediently, nearly stumbling back onto the ground before righting herself. She looked back at Regina with a mildly-embarrassed grin.

"Gotta get my sea legs back," she said, attempting to walk forward in a straight line. Then she halted abruptly and snorted. _"Sea legs_ ," she laughed. "Like a pirate. Like Hook. I should…I should be a pirate, just like Hook."

"I'm sure he would love that," Regina muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"Only _better_ than Hook," Emma went on. "I will…Regina, I will be the best pirate…in the entire galaxy!"

"Dream big," Regina mumbled and then yelped as Emma grabbed her arm and started pulling her along at a brisk pace toward the town.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she cried as Emma nearly walked her straight into a tree.

"We have to show Hook I'm a better pirate than he is!" Emma exclaimed. "Let's go throw toilet paper at his ship and make him cry."

Regina swatted an over-hanging branch out of her face as Emma pulled her along. "I thought you _liked_ that idiot," she said.

"…I like when he buys me drinks, sooooo…yeah, I guess that's sort of like _liking_ him. Hey-- when we're done, let's go throw toilet paper at that guy Robin Hood too. He's lame. Almost as lame as Hook."

Regina dug her heels into the dirt, forcing Emma to stop with her.

"We are _not_ throwing toilet paper at the man Tinkerbell says is my true love," she said firmly.

Emma made one of the most absurd faces Regina had ever seen, some mixture of disgust and incredulity, and just general unfocused confusion given her current state.

" _Robin Hood_ can _not_ be your true love, he has the stupidest tattoo I've ever seen in my _life_ ," Emma asserted strongly. "Like, what is, what is it even…how did-- _no._ No. If you're gonna get a tattoo, you go…Regina, you go all out. Like a…like a dragon clawing up your chest or some shit. What the…what the fuck is that stupid _lion_ thing…and on his _wrist?"_

 _"You_ have a tattoo on _your_ wrist, Miss Swan. A flower. How is that any better?"

"Mine is _pretty."_

"Listen, I'm not going to argue with you about this, alright? Tink told me the man with the lion tattoo on his wrist is my true love. I'm aware that it's a stupid tattoo. But it's…important, I'm sure, to him, which means it's… _what?"_

Emma had grabbed her arm again and was staring at her with eyes wide as saucers, and mouth hanging open as if she had suddenly just figured out the very meaning of existence.

"Gina…" she murmured.

"Don't call me Gina," Regina instructed, peeling Emma's fingers off her arm.

Emma just grabbed her again.

"Reggie…" she insisted seriously.

"Do _not_ call me Reggie," Regina snapped, trying once again to separate herself from the blonde.

"Ruh. Gee. Nah," Emma persisted, swatting annoyingly at Regina's arm with each syllable.

 _"What_ , Miss Swan, good grief, spit it out already!" 

She blinked in surprise as Emma stepped in almost nose-to-nose with her, one hand on either of her shoulders. Regina breathed shallowly, concerned that from this close, Emma's breath might reek of beetle nose.

"Are you _absolutely sure_ Tinkerbell said _lion_ tattoo?" Emma asked her.

"…Why…?"

"Because what _if_ …" Emma's eyes darted left, and then right as if she was on the lookout for spies, and she leaned in even closer. Regina forgot to breathe shallowly for just a moment, but thankfully, Emma's breath didn't smell like beetle nose. It actually smelled…almost sweet. She blinked.

"…What if…" Emma was saying, "she didn't say _lion_ at all? What if she said _dandelion?"_

Regina waited. "Is that supposed to mean something to me?" she asked finally.

"Dande _lion,"_ Emma insisted. She held up her left wrist, waving it in Regina's face.

"Please stop doing that," Regina requested.

 _"Dandelion!"_ Emma exclaimed. "It's a dandelion! On my wrist! My tattoo! Regina, what if…Regina. _Regina!"_

"For the love of god, Swan, I'm right here, _what?"_

"What if _I'm_ your true love?"

Regina blinked at her. And then actually cracked a weak smile because… _what?_ ** _What?_**

"I think we need to get you home to bed," she said.

 _"Whoa,_ slow down there," Emma slurred, mouth twisting into the most ridiculous smirk Regina had ever seen. "I said we were true loves, I didn't say I was gonna just jump into bed with you right away, do I _look_ like I'm that easy?"

"I meant so you could sleep off the beetle nose, Miss Swan, as you've clearly lost your mind."

"…I mean I actually kind of _am_ that easy," Emma went on, not listening. "Still though, buy a girl dinner first, amiright?"

She looked around herself, like she was looking for someone to agree with her, in spite of the fact that no one else was out there with them. She jerked her thumb at a tree behind herself with a knowing look at Regina. "That guy agrees with me," she said.

"There's no 'guy' there, Miss Swan, that's a tree."

"Oh. I _thought_ he looked awfully tall." She turned and glared at the tree. "Hey. Hey, _fuck you, tree!_ Making me look dumb in front of my true love."

"For heaven's sake, Miss Swan…"

"I hate that guy," Emma told her seriously, as Regina spun her back around to face her. 

"There's no guy," Regina said again. "Come along, let's get you home to your mother. I'm not about to spend my afternoon babysitting you, you're her problem now."

"My mother," Emma said wistfully, beginning to trudge after her. "You know, my mother talks to birds more than she talks to me. I think she wishes I was a bird."

"That wouldn't surprise me."

"I think she wishes David was a bird too. I think she wishes the whole world was birds."

"Snow very nearly caused a plague back in the Enchanted Forest because of the number of birds she insisted upon handling," Regina informed her. "It's a wonder she hasn't contracted something deadly yet, though I still remain optimistic that she will at some point."

Emma halted, and Regina reluctantly halted with her, just to keep from losing track of her.

"Do you really still wanna kill my mom?" the blonde asked.

"Obviously."

Emma swayed forward and peered at her too closely. "But do you _really?"_

"Miss Swan, I say this with utmost sincerity: nothing would give me greater pleasure than seeing your mother dead."

"…But you kind of like her though, huh."

"That is literally the opposite of what I just said."

"And you kind of like my dad too."

"I'm getting the very distinct feeling you aren't listening to me."

"And you _definitely_ like me. Because I'm you're true love, and you love me. You love me _and_ you like me."

Regina whipped her hand out and took Emma by the chin, forcing the blonde to look at her. "Miss Swan," she said as slowly and clearly as she possibly could in order to drive the point home. _"No._ I do _not."_

Emma blinked wide, shiny eyes at her for a moment before murmuring distractedly, "Oh right, that's not till later."

Regina peered at her. "I beg your pardon?"

"Huh?"

"What's not till later?"

Emma's brow creased as she seemed to struggle with the question. "… _Who?"_

Regina let go of her chin with an exasperated huff. She could _not_ deal with the highly intoxicated Savior right now. She'd gotten her safely down from her mid-air perch as Henry had requested, but beyond that, she didn't see that there was any reason for this to continue to be her problem.

"I think my bones are eating me," Emma informed her suddenly, before collapsing in a dead faint onto the ground.

Gritting her teeth, Regina knelt down beside her and engulfed them both in a swirl of magic.

*

"Not that I don't enjoy a nice visit from our esteemed Mayor from time to time, but would it kill you to use the door?" Mr. Gold drawled as Regina poofed herself and a near-unconscious Emma into the middle of his shop.

"No time," Regina snapped, motioning for him. 

With an apologetic glance at the customer he'd just been speaking to, Mr. Gold made his way over to them, crouching down beside Emma who stirred slightly with a moan.

"What's wrong with her?" Mr. Gold asked.

"Beetle nose," Regina told him urgently. "She got into the beetle nose, and started acting like a lunatic, told me her bones were eating her, and then collapsed. I didn't know who else to go to, can you help her?"

Mr. Gold glanced at her, and while Regina couldn't _read_ the expression on his face, she decided she didn't _like_ it. It seemed frustratingly…suggestive. Though of what, she couldn't imagine.

He turned back to Emma before she could become too irritated by it however, and held his hand over the blonde's stomach for a moment.

"Well?" Regina demanded when he didn't say anything.

"Well it seems our Miss Swan got into quite a bit more than the beetle nose," he informed her. He gave her a look. "You wouldn't happen to have left some salamander tongue out where she could have gotten to it, would you?"

Regina sighed. The salamander tongue was right next to the beetle nose in her vault. Which meant that not only had Emma gone and drugged herself on the beetle nose, she had then gotten a case of the magical munchies and eaten a _second_ narcotic that Regina had used in the past primarily to force her enemies to hallucinate that their own bodies were devouring them.

Listen, it had been an effective tactic back in the old days, and much less messy than actual torture.

"You don't have anything that could, I don't know, get it out of her system faster, do you?" Regina asked. 

"For the beetle nose, no," Mr. Gold said. "But I do have something that could dilute the effects of the salamander tongue, make her stop thinking her bones are…eating her."

"Well what are you waiting for? Go get it!" Regina exclaimed.

Mr. Gold's look turned sly. "You're not curious as to the price?" he asked. "All magic, after all…"

"At this point I figure I just have a running tab with you, now hurry up, will you?"

Mr. Gold smirked and got to his feet, ambling away to the back of his shop.

Regina turned back to Emma who had curled onto her side and was clutching her stomach, groaning. Guilt shot through her at the sight, unexpected and white hot. Beetle nose was one thing, but the pain from the salamander tongues was not something she had wished on anybody for a long time. 

"You idiot, Swan," she murmured softly, brushing blonde hair away from a sweaty forehead.

"Here you are," Mr. Gold said, returning with a glass full of an icy-looking blue liquid. He handed it to Regina. "Why don't you take her into the back and give this to her while I finish up with my client."

Regina still didn't like his look, but she obeyed, taking the glass and poofing herself and the blonde onto the cot in the back room.

*

Not sure how else to go about it, Regina slapped Emma in the face a couple times to get her to wake up. And when Emma finally surged up, gasping, Regina grabbed her nose and poured the entire glass of blue liquid down her throat.

Emma spluttered and choked, grabbing Regina's shoulders to steady herself, staring at her wildly as she got her breath back under her control. Once her breathing calmed, her eyes softened suddenly and a dopey smile plastered itself across her face.

"You're always here," she mumbled happily.

Regina didn't know what that meant, so she managed an awkward shoulder pat and leaned Emma back against the wall. "I know, dear," she responded, just for something to say.

Emma leaned her head back, looking up at the ceiling. "Sooooo many stars," she said, pointing.

Regina glanced upward, noting a large scattering of mildew stains on the ceiling. "Yes, they're…quite lovely," she drawled with a resigned sigh.

"They're like that first time, remember?" Emma went on.

Regina settled down next to her, trying not to roll her eyes, because apparently the blonde was still far far away in hallucination land.

"Right, just like that good old first time," she agreed absently.

Emma smiled, and then snorted suddenly, looking at her with a huge grin. "I still can't believe you let me fuck you on the hood of my car," she said.

Regina nearly gave herself whiplash from how quickly she turned her head to look at Emma.

 _"I beg your fucking pardon?"_ she demanded shrilly. What kind of insane nonsense…?

Emma just laughed again. "And it was all starry outside like this," she went on dreamily. "I didn't think you'd ever let me do that, you…are a very. Surprising. Woman. Gina."

"I told you don't call me Gina," Regina said automatically, because… _what?_ ** _What?_**

But Emma laughed for a third time, and then leaned in and pressed her lips to Regina's.

Regina froze in shock, entire body going rigid. She tried as hard as she could to get her mind to wrap around what the hell was happening right now, but felt it go completely blank as Emma slid their lips together, somehow both soft and firm, as if this was just the most natural thing in the world.

And then she felt her mind go even more blank as Emma's tongue ran along the seam of her lips and she was too startled to do anything but open up for her, eyes slipping closed as she fell into the soft heat of Emma's mouth.

"Well well. _Do_ hope I'm not interrupting anything," came Mr. Gold's voice from the doorway.

Regina tore herself away from Emma like she was on fire, separating herself so urgently that she nearly toppled off the cot with a most undignified grunt. She stood quickly, patting down her hair and her blouse. It was…not exactly her smoothest moment.

"I gave the good Sheriff Charming a call, he's on his way to pick up his daughter," Mr. Gold said, and Regina wanted to throw something at him to wipe that sly look off his face. "Madam Mayor, might I have a quick word in the other room, please?" he requested.

Regina nodded breathlessly, feeling like she should wipe her hand over her mouth to clear it of any lipstick smears, but that would be too much like admitting that kiss had just actually happened and Regina was still having trouble processing that it had. So wordlessly, she stalked past Emma and began to follow Mr. Gold into the next room.

"Hey…" Emma said weakly.

 _"You_ stay _right there,"_ Regina ordered firmly and Emma shut her mouth obediently, shifting on her haunches.

*

"Oh don't look at me with those judgy little eyes of yours," Regina snapped once she and Mr. Gold reached the counter. "She's high off her ass, she had no idea what she was doing."

"On the contrary, Mayor Mills, it looked to me as if she knew _exactly_ what she was doing," Mr. Gold countered with a smirk.

Regina scowled at him, but he just good-naturedly handed over a small vial of orange liquid. "You'll want to give this to her before she leaves with her father, or she'll be nursing one hell of a headache in a couple hours," he said.

Regina looked at him skeptically. "Not going to tell me what the price of this is going to be?" she asked.

"I thought that's what the running tab was for," he answered with a smile. He closed her fingers around the vial gently. "Go on, take it. I think we both know, hard as you try to hide it, that you care for Miss Swan…at least enough to spare her from a splitting headache if nothing else."

"I don't _care_ for her," Regina insisted, pocketing the vial. "And she certainly doesn't care for me. She devoured an entire jar of beetle nose, that's all that was."

Mr. Gold looked at her patiently. "Madam Mayor, if I may-- do you know what beetle nose is used for?" he asked.

Regina scoffed. "Of course I do, you're the one who taught me," she said. "It's for navigating through dreams."

"Ah, well you're half right," he said. "Though it's not just _dreams_ , dearie, it's a rather specific _type_ of dream _._ "

"And which type would that be?"

"The prophetic type, of course."

His eyes twinkled and Regina frowned. "So…?" she prompted warily.

"Well there's no way to tell for certain, of course," he said, "given that Miss Swan ingested it while awake rather than in sleep the way it's meant to be used…but as it is typically utilized for navigating prophecies, it isn't a far stretch to assume that her hallucinations were actually projections of her future. More precisely, her future with _you."_

Regina did her best not to sputter, trying to look as indignant as she possibly could. "That was not a _projection_ of her future," she snapped. "We were just…talking about tattoos earlier, and somehow she got it in her head that Tinkerbell had intended to say _dandelion_ instead of _lion_ and she must have imagined some ridiculous…" She trailed off, becoming even more flustered at how insane it all sounded. _"Robin_ is my true love!" she stated angrily. "Miss Swan and I don't _have_ a future, not one like that, that's completely absurd."

"And why exactly do you think Robin is your true love?" Mr. Gold asked gently. "Because you actually love him, or because you were told you should?"

Regina could only stare at him, not trusting herself to answer.

But Mr. Gold shrugged suddenly, carelessly. "Then again, what do I know," he said airily. "Of course you're right and Miss Swan may have just been hallucinating absolute nonsense. Still, having said that…it's interesting, don't you think, that of all the things her mind could have conjured up for her…a life where the two of you were together was it?"

Regina startled as the door to the shop burst open and Charming strode in.

"Where's Emma?" he demanded. "Is she alright?"

"She'll be fine after some rest," Mr. Gold assured him, smoothly shifting his attention to the former prince. "She's in the back room."

Charming nodded and made for the curtain.

"David," Regina heard herself call out, stopping him. She hesitated, then held out the vial to him. "Rumple said to give this to her so she won't be sick when she wakes up. Here."

Charming looked skeptically from the vial to Regina to Mr. Gold. "What's the price?" he asked Mr. Gold warily.

"No price," Regina answered for him, shaking her head. "This one's on me."

Charming hesitated another second before finally accepting the vial and disappearing into the back room.

"Oh you're absolutely right, dearie," Mr. Gold drawled softly behind her. "You don't care about Miss Swan at all."

*

Regina's knuckles hovered an inch away from the door to the Charmings' loft that evening. This was ridiculous. She shouldn't be here, what was she even thinking…

She had just begun to turn away and retreat back down to the street when the door opened and Emma stepped out.

"Whoa, hey…Regina," the blonde exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Regina cursed her luck and turned back to her, plastering a smile on her face. "I just…came to check on you," she said as primly as she could. "You had a pretty rough morning."

Emma laughed awkwardly, leaning back against the doorjamb and hitching her thumbs in her pockets. "Yeah, that's what everyone keeps saying," she said. "Henry tells me I was… _hovering?_ Upside-down in the gully?"

Regina nodded, forcing a tight smile of her own. 

Emma scratched the back of her neck, looking guilty. "Listen, I'm uh…I'm sorry I took…whatever it is I took in your vault," she mumbled. "Like, I get it, you know…if you don't want to teach me magic anymore."

Regina hesitated, searching Emma's face. "Well I'll never understand what compelled you to _eat_ something that I very clearly told you not to touch…" she began, much harsher than she meant to.

"I know, I know," Emma said, wincing. She smiled guiltily. "I'm basically a toddler, right, like you tell me not to touch something, I have to touch it, and if something smells like food…well…"

"I understand," Regina said quickly. "Anyway, we're all…glad you're alright."

Emma bit her lip. "I must've really done some weird stuff, huh," she guessed. "Anything crazier than the upside-down hovering?"

Regina looked at her carefully, heart pounding. "You don't remember…anything? From this morning?" she asked.

"Honestly? Not a thing. Like, I kind of feel like there was a long blur of a bunch of colors for hours and hours, but…yeah, that's about it. Was I like a total weirdo?"

"…No you…were very…" Regina broke off, waving her hand vaguely. "…tame."

Emma nodded and there was a small awkward silence between them.

"So, uh…" Emma said, clearing her throat. "Whatcha got there?"

Regina looked down at her hand, having forgotten about the paper bag from Granny's she was holding and felt her pulse pick up pace again. 

"Hot cocoa," she answered weakly, voice croaking.

"Oh, for Henry? Great, he'll be stoked."

"…I…oh yes, for Henry."

Emma smiled at her. "Cool, I'll go get him, I think he's up reading comic books or something…"

"Emma, wait," Regina interrupted as the blonde turned to go find their son. Emma looked back at her, eyebrows raising quizzically.

"It…I didn't bring the hot cocoa for him, I…brought it for you," Regina blurted out awkwardly. She sighed and thrust the bag toward Emma. "I thought it might make you feel better in case you were still…" She trailed off, not sure how to finish that sentence. "Here," she insisted, shaking the bag a little.

The corners of Emma's mouth curved slowly into a careful smile, and she reached forward to take the bag. Regina looked down and saw the tattoo on her wrist, clearly for once, and close.

Her heart sank a little bit. It was as generic a flower as Regina had ever seen, but it was in no way a dandelion. Nor was it a lion. Nor was it anything even remotely related to what Tinkerbell had said. It was just…a fairly nondescript tattoo of a fairly nondescript flower.

Emma had finished opening the bag and was looking inside. "There's two in here," she noted, looking up at Regina curiously. "You uh…you joining me?"

There was something strikingly tentative and also hopeful about the way she asked and Regina pursed her lips to keep whatever fluttery thing that had just moved in her chest still, because all of a sudden basing her love life around a tattoo seemed completely ridiculous and she realized she didn't _care_ about lions, or dandelions, or any other stupid sign besides what was right in front of her.

"If you don't mind," she answered with a nod.

Emma's face broke into a wide smile and she closed the door behind her. "Let's take them outside," she suggested. "I know this really cool place we can watch the stars from."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in the middle of writing a longish ridiculous angsty FrozenSwan fic at the moment and really needed to write something stupidly fluffy just to take a breather from that. On that note, for those of you who are following "Consume" don't worry, I'm still fully devoted to that, but as I said...sometimes a girl just needs some fluff in her life. Think of this as a palate cleanser. Thanks for reading everyone!


End file.
